Finding My Way Back Home

Finding My Way Back Home….

the road I know

has left me behind

so I go

through the rain

that pours like shadows

driving to find my way back home

Gotta find my way back home

The New Colonialism

Searching for the freedom beyond the new colonialism….

The New Colonialism

There is the old colonialism and the new. In years past Empires were made by invading “primitive” third world or developing countries. In a brutal process of conquest, nations achieved their goals of domination via enslavement, government control and wars.

Today colonialism still exist, however it can be argued that it takes on another form—insidious in nature but with the same result i.e. the raping and pillaging of a countries wealth and resources while eliminating its ability to be self-sufficient.

Today’s colonialism is financial in nature and is developed as a means to rule the wealth of others. In the past 30 years here in America we have seen the shift from a manufacturing based economy to a financial one. The deregulation, the explosion of the commodities markets, and the Wall Street mentality of greed have all played a part in a global construct to create a new society of those who have and those who have not. The 1% and 99ers are what we are left with.

In the old form of colonialism it was understood that control came by the means of dominating the wealth, trade, language and freedom of the people. This principal in general has not changed, but today the emphasis is on domination through the control of wealth—through a corrupt identity we have come to know as Capitalism.  This type of capitalism is based on a false economy; a paper economy.

True capitalism is when the people of different nations, societies, communities understand the importance of fair trade; where respect, common interest and gain are the goals. We see it everywhere, for example in America and developing countries with our community gardens and farmer markets; where the language and freedom of trade is a positive end shared by all.

The protests we see here in America and around the globe is a testimony to the people’s vision of a true form of capitalism. It is a struggle against economic tyranny of the most devastating kind.

What do you think? Is the path to solidarity in recognizing our common need? Can we, who are the true majority, find our common goal and live on this planet with harmony and love; and for that matter unselfishly?

How Do You Negotiate Your Time Between the Things You Love

Searching for that time, seeing it just beyond the window….

Finding the time for things we love

Do you ever feel like time is slipping by, and the things you love are being left behind?  And do you find you must choose between one thing and the other because of the lack of time?

Well over the past year I have found that I must negotiate my time wisely if I am to achieve some of my goals as an artist and pursue my love of outdoor adventure. During this fall period when the weather is so nice, I long for those exciting treks up and around the mountains of South and North Carolina. Yes, the mountains are calling, but then too is the late nights in my studio—in front of my computer, creating art, developing ideas, and writing.

What is one to do? My work schedule provides me with very little time for my personal activities. If I stay up late until 3 or 4 a.m., I do not have the energy for early rising and working out. The choices we make because of limited time, energy, and work schedules all play an important part in how we approach the things we love. A solution that I have found is to break up these different interests into separate yearly periods. With one activity being the most dominate. The past year my personal emphasis has been on my art, website and art blog with a minor contribution to outdoor activities. Instead of the daily schedule of work-outs (that I was consistent with 2 years ago), I opted for the big one day adventures such as all day biking, caving, zip-lining, and long hikes. As I approach 2012 and the New Year, I hope to perhaps find a strong 50/50 mix that includes gym workouts, outdoor adventures such as rock climbing, kayaking and perhaps even sky diving, while simultaneously furthering my artistic endeavors.

Do you find it difficult to juggle the things you love? How do you negotiate your time? Have your thought about 2012 and how to get the most out the New Year?

What do you think?

After the Inward Journey – Discovery

The human mind cannot create anything. It produces nothing until after having been fertilized by experience and meditation; its acquisitions are the gems of its production. – George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon

Creation is such an elusive thing, for the more we think we are in control, the more we remove ourselves from the actual creation. –Betty Jean Billups

After the inward journey there is a world of discovery

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. – Edward de Bono

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns. – Edward de Bono

Seeing Inward

There is no one definitive creative path. There are many ways to be creative – not only intuitive ways but organized, logical ways, too. – Theresa Bayer

Seeing inward - the path to creativity

I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied. Then, in my head, I begin to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth… I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast, and only the labour of writing it down remains. – Ludwig van Beethoven

Observing Art for the Near Future

The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness, of fear and pleasure; it’s a little like making love, the physical act of love. – Francis Bacon

Keeping the spirit of creativity alive, finding color everywhere

Creativity is a lifestyle, and ideas are the product and lifeblood of that lifestyle. – Miles G. Batt

Portrait of a Friend

memories of a friend

holds my life in place…

A friend for life and in the afterlife

My Cats: Little Baby and Thai-G – Inspiration for Art

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things. – Pablo Picasso

Little Baby and Thai-G in the studio

“One must love a cat on its own terms.”- Paul Gray

From “The Encyclopedia Britannica”. All cats are members of the family Felidea. Interestingly enough, the cat family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families. All cats share certain characteristics that are unique to the cat family. Cats are pure carnivores. They need a high level of protein in their diets – around 30% – and lack the digestive equipment to do well on a diet of grains, fruits or vegetables. In fact, if you were to design a creature to live from hunting mammals you would have trouble doing better than the design of the cat. If you know cats at all, you know that they have powerful jaws, long, sharp teeth, and claws that draw back into their paws when not in use. Cats hear extremely well. Their eyes are adapted for vision in dim light for hunting just before dawn and just after dusk, the prime hunting periods.

My Cats: Little Baby and Thai-G

“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is
infinitely superior.” – Hippolyte Taine

Little Baby and Thai-G chillin

“In a cat’s eye, all things belong to cats.” – English proverb

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” – Albert Schweitzer

I’m only a cat,
and I stay in my place…
Up there on your chair,
on your bed or your face!

I’m only a cat,
and I don’t finick much…
I’m happy with cream
and anchovies and such!

I’m only a cat,
and we’ll get along fine…
As long as you know
I’m not yours… you’re all mine!

Author Unknown

Yet Another Change … A New Look 02

After some thought, and a critique from a fellow artist, who I respect highly, I came to the conclusion that I would move the look of my art blog, via the background design, to its most simplistic. Therefore, more attention is given to the writing and imagery without the possible background distraction. I seem to always like a lot of things happening in my art and its presentation, and have to at times remind myself to find the ambient space that allows for more contemplation.

Below is the art I selected for this change. The piece is from my Silence Series, and is entitled Silence 04.

Silence 04